16-May-2006
- On 15 May 2006 Severn Trent Water Limited pleaded
guilty at Tamworth Magistrates Court to one charge
relating to polluting a brook and a fishing pond
in Staffordshire with raw sewage.
The charge was brought by the
Environment Agency under Section 85 of the Water
Resources Act 1991. The company was fined £
4,000 and ordered to pay £2,067.35 costs.
Speaking after the investigation,
an Environment Agency officer involved in the
case said: "Sewage can have a serious effect
on watercourses, water companies have a responsibility
to prevent sewage leaks happening or, if they
do occur, halt the flow as quickly as possible.
We take pollution incidents very seriously and
failure to respond can result in hefty fines".
For the Environment Agency,
Jonathan Salmon told the court that on the 16
June 2005, the Environment Agency received reports
from the owner of Grange Farm, Draycott in the
Clay, that he had spotted dead fish in his fishing
pond.
Environment Agency officers
investigated the fishing pond, which is served
through an inlet by the Salt Brook. Closer inspection
by Environment Agency officers around the perimeter
of the pond found more dead fish at the inlet
point from the Salt Brook.
The water was discoloured and
sewage fungus could be seen on the bed of the
Salt Brook. Samples from the fishing pond and
from a downstream location of the Brook were taken.
On 19 June 2005 the son of the
occupier of Grange Farm was marking the manholes
in the fields in preparation for grass cuttings.
He noticed that one of the manhole covers situated
100 metres upstream of the pond had crude sewage
surging from it. These manholes service an underground
foul sewer pipe, which belongs to Severn Trent
Water Limited.
Severn Trent Water Limited were
informed of the incident, however their response
to the incident was delayed, they attended the
scene the following day.
On Monday 20 June 2005, Environment
Agency officers carried out investigations on
the effected manhole, which still appeared to
have crude sewage discharging from it. The officers
followed the trail of the sewage, which ran across
the fields towards Salt Brook.
Photographs and samples were
taken from various points of where the sewage
ran. Severn Trent Water Limited were also interviewed
about the incident.
In total, the pollution incident
at Grange Farm resulted in approximately 56 dead
trout.
In mitigation, Counsel for the
Defendant explained that Severn Trent Water Limited
had co-operated fully with the Environment Agency
and had carried out appropriate remedial work.
He explained that the delay in responding to the
telephone call on 19th June 2005 was due to the
Grange Farm being on the border between their
two incident centres and a high number of calls
that day following heavy rainfall across their
region.
